


The Rogues Reaction

by MysticMedusa



Series: The Aftermath [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Manipulative Natasha Romanoff, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 09:31:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20255941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysticMedusa/pseuds/MysticMedusa
Summary: The rogues see the press conference





	The Rogues Reaction

In the run down motel room only Natasha and Steve sat, the others had left after the press conference Tony held. She wished she could go back in time; make difference decisions because she had clearly made the wrong one. Now she would burn with the others, defeated because she had miscalculated. Stark had survived a lifetime in the spotlight, controlling the masses as he needed when they were watching and waiting like sharks for the first scent of blood. Stark had never broken before, and that meant it was a possibility she never considered. She had believed the legend of Captain America and the inevitably of another attack that would require the avengers would pull her through better than staying on Stark’s side.

She hadn’t accounted for someone like Zemo, he had planned accordingly to destroy the Avengers. Though his plan on the outside appeared reliant on chance Natasha could see the truth. Zemo had studied them, all of them. He was an outsider looking at them in a way Natasha had done many times before to those she sought information from. He knew them, knew how they’d act, what they would do in situations that involved their own teammates. Natasha was a black widow; her life was a web of careful lies and manipulations. She’d been raised in the Red Room, taught to never care for anyone, to not hold any sentiment for people or places. As such she couldn’t see the importance of something like the reason behind someone’s death. Whether an accident or murder she hadn’t seen what the difference would mean to someone not raised to be an assassin trained out of sentiment. Steve had shown to put Bucky before all else, that was clear as day. So when it was discovered Bucky as the winter soldier had murdered the Starks Steve had hidden the fact. Knowing there was a possibility the reveal would result in harm to Bucky. He knew about Wanda’s background, knew she hated Stark and would ultimately side with Steve. He knew regardless of Vision’s growing affections for Wanda that he was still a being of logic; he’d stay on the side of the law.

Everything had been planned accordingly from who would face against who. That Stark would discover Bucky had been framed, that he’d go after the two to help first if not try to arrest the two super soldiers after. He had likely even counted on T’Challa. The prince had gone after Bucky at every turn, once he saw Stark going after the two he’d follow. No doubt even taking into account that T’Challa wouldn’t step in to stop the fighting between the three. Knew he’d change that single-minded focus from Bucky to Zemo once he learned the truth. Whether Stark or the super soldiers won the battle, it was Zemo who won in the end. Destroying the avengers as he’d wished from the start of his plans.

After watching the press conference their group had grown quieter and quieter, their forms tensing and freezing in place, faces filling with horror or rage, a few expressing confusion before their faces quickly paled.

_“Did she really do all those things?”_

Scott’s question Natasha remembered ringing in the dead silence of the room. It was a single question but meant so many things, asked so many things. Everything Stark had said; everything he’d revealed to the public. It was one thing to see in dumped files, another to hear the words spoken from a man who had stayed strong for so long and was finally broken. A man who always spoke with charm and smiles on the face of the public suddenly filled with rage and no tolerance for anyone’s accusations or bullshit.

_“How dare he?! He’s lying! He’s trying to tear us apart!”_

Wanda’s outrage had done nothing to put those just realizing the truth of her past at ease. Only Natasha and Steve had not reacted with fear at the outburst, Natasha was use to her having them and Steve still believed Wanda to be reformed. Natasha knew she wasn’t, but she was more useful as an ally than an enemy.

_“I left my home…my second chance…for this? For you? I gave up everything; I’m a criminal because of you!”_

Scott had stormed out, unlikely to return and Natasha wouldn’t be surprised if the media later reported on him giving himself up.

_“Steve…did you really take Wanda’s side over Stark’s when she was your enemy?”_

Sam had looked horrified and confused. His question holding a slight hint of hope, hope he knew was worthless in the face of all he’d heard, that Steve hadn’t truly done what Stark claimed. Steve’s face held a slight frown, his body tense, and without words Sam knew the truth. He walked out, Natasha couldn’t say if he’d returned but she knew it more than likely he wouldn’t.

_“I’ll make Stark pay! I should have killed that monster when I had the chance!”_

Wanda’s scream of rage had made Clint turn to look at her, as if seeing her truly for the first time. His eyes had been wide and horror filled them, just like when Clint had realized what Loki had done to him and what he’d made him do to the people he worked beside. Wanda had stormed out after the declaration. Clint had stayed sitting there, unmoving and unresponsive when Steve tried to talk to him. An hour was spent trying to get through to him before Clint had suddenly shot up, like his entire body was fueled by his fight and flight instincts. His fist collided with Steve’s face hard, had enough that Natasha thought she heard bones break, before Clint had brought the super soldier’s head down to meet Clint’s knee. For all her training Natasha hadn’t been able to react fast enough, only managing to get to her feet before Clint had left them behind.

Natasha had considered the fact that Wanda had been using her abilities on Clint, he was as she’d found out early on easy to manipulate. How he’d reacted made her realize he had been under her power, how much though she wasn’t sure.

_“We need to go after them.”_

_“There’s no point, either they’ll come back or they won’t. We need to focus on surviving the witch hunt that’s about to head our way.”_

She’d said that and they were waiting for his injuries to heal before they headed out. Natasha knew Steve couldn’t blend in and hide like she could. He stood out no matter what he did and even if he didn’t, his stubbornness would doom them both. It was why Natasha had a plan, she’d wait for the perfect time when she had what she needed, and then she’d use him as a distraction to escape. She always did what she had to in order to survive, while all eyes were on Steve and focus on capturing him, she’d make a run for it and blend in quickly and efficiently. She’d live under a false alias and make sure that no one would find her, not even Stark.


End file.
